Chelsea 0 Arsenal 0: Gunners claim moral victory from London derby as they end five-match losing streak at Stamford Bridge

It may not have been a first Premier League win away against one of the so-called ‘big six’ since January 2015, but Arsenal will claim a moral victory from this London derby after giving their travelling fans encouragement they might not have to suffer a season of embarrassment.

Arsene Wenger’s men should really have secured a proper victory, as they squandered the best opportunities and had a man advantage for the final minutes after David Luiz was sent-off. But the Arsenal supporters who stayed behind to applaud their team are just relieved not to be going to work to face the same old jokes.

The fact a goalless draw was achieved at Stamford Bridge without the injured Mesut Ozil will not have gone unnoticed by those aware that Arsenal’s last significant away win came against Manchester City without the German. Ozil has often been accused of not turning up for the big games even when he has been on the pitch and it was clear that Arsenal were not carrying any passengers against Chelsea, as Danny Welbeck, Alex Iwobi and Alexandre Lacazette forced the Blues defenders to look backwards and sideways with their passing.

Old boy: Cesc Fabregas plays a ball away from Aaron RamseyCredit:
PA

An Arsenal defence that has so often been bullied into submission by Diego Costa also stood up to the test with Shkodran Mustafi getting the better of Costa’s replacement, Alvaro Morata, who was eventually booked for letting his frustration get the better of him.

The commitment of Alexis Sanchez may well be questioned once again as he appeared to find record signing Lacazette’s contender for miss of the season funny from the substitutes’ bench, but this was not a performance that will see the attitude of Arsenal’s players come under the spotlight once again.

Sanchez was dropped back down to the bench, where Olivier Giroud also started, after playing 90 minutes in the Europa League victory over Cologne. With Sanchez and Giroud both watching from the sidelines during the first half, the responsibility to threaten Chelsea’s goal fell to Welbeck and Lacazette, and the pair missed the best chances of the game.

Welbeck headed over the crossbar from Hector Bellerin’s cross, while Lacazette could not believe he did not find the back of the net four minutes before the break. Aaron Ramsey went on a brilliant, winding run into the penalty area, which took him past Cesar Azpilicueta, and the Welshman’s shot rebounded off the post. Lacazette looked to have the simple task of tucking the ball into the net, but instead lifted it over the bar from four yards.

While Wenger and the rest of the Arsenal bench held their heads in their hands, Sanchez could be seen slapping the back of David Ospina with a big smile on his face.

Conte decided Eden Hazard was not yet fit enough to start his first game of the season for Chelsea, while Costa, who has previously enjoyed facing Arsenal, was still nowhere to be seen. That left Morata flanked by Pedro and Willian, and it was Pedro who failed to take Chelsea’s best and only clear opportunity. Having seen an early shot saved by Petr Cech, Pedro was sent through on goal by Cesc Fabregas in the 21st minute. It seemed certain the former Barcelona man would give the home side the lead, but Cech managed to keep the ball out with an outstretched hand.

Chelsea struggled to create chances and impose themselves on Arsenal, which was highlighted by the fact Cech’s most significant action of the first half, other than saving from Pedro, was controlling a back pass from Nacho Monreal that could have easily resulted in an own goal.

Morata has three goals for Chelsea, all with his head, but needs time to acclimatise to the physical nature of the Premier League. The ball rarely stuck to him when it was played into the former Real Madrid man’s feet and more often than not he was left on his backside by Mustafi. Morata had been getting increasingly annoyed by being knocked to the floor by Mustafi, but the striker earned a booking when he attempted to give the Arsenal defender a taste of his own medicine.

Mustafi went closer to breaking the deadlock than Morata, but saw a header ruled out for offside after he had already started his celebrations in front of the Arsenal fans, one of whom had made it on to the pitch.

In terms of who blinked first in looking for some magic from the bench, it was Wenger as he replaced Lacazette with Sanchez with just under 25 minutes remaining. But it only took three more minutes for Conte to send on Hazard in place of Willian.

Luckless: Danny Welbeck got hurt, againCredit:
Getty

Hazard almost conjured what would have been a special winner. The Belgian collected a pass from N’Golo Kante and danced around Granit Xhaka before cutting in to fire a shot towards goal that was well held by Cech.

But Chelsea’s hopes of snatching a late winner were effectively ended, when Luiz was shown a straight red card for a late challenge on Sead Kolasinac. It was Chelsea’s third successive red card against Arsenal and fifth in their last eight games, stretching back to last season’s FA Cup final.

A more confident Arsenal may have pounced on the chance to take all three points, but this was their first point at Stamford Bridge in six years and these days Wenger’s men are more than happy to simply avoid a beating.

Ramsey: "we showed we can compete against the best. We showed solidarity. We played higher up the pitch so if we did lose the ball we were able to get back. Granit and I have a good understanding. We have one bad half against Liverpool. We are in a good place."

Full time: Chelsea O Arsenal 0

That's it. This is the first time Chelsea have failed to score at home in Conte's tenure. Arsenal's first point here in six visits. Third time in a row that Chelsea have ended up with 10 v Arsenal. Arsenal's first away point of the season.

88 mins

87 mins

Huge tackle from David Luiz on Kolasinac. It's high, it's wild, it's clattered the Arsenal player. I don't think that it is malicious - although that is in fact irrelevant. It's a straight red. No reasonable argument against the red card. Conte has some words with the 4th official.

66 mins

65 mins

Ha, here's fun. Mustafi and Morata come together, shoulder to shoulder, and it's the Chelsea man who gets the card. LOL. Eccentric from Oliver, seeing as Mustafi's been fouling the bloke for about an hour.

59 mins

58 mins

I quite fancy Mustafi to give away a pen here. He's got his hands full, with Morata. And now, literally, he has got hands all over him, and hauls him down. Luckily, Child Referee Prodigy Michael Oliver finds in his favour.

54 mins

51 mins

Ball into the box, Luiz tries an overhead kick. Misses the ball. Connects with Koscileny's face, though. Yellow card. Entirely accidental. How comes, people will ask, that was a yellow and Mane's a red?

49 mins

47 mins

Morata set free, beats Mustafi, tries to flick it to Willian but Arsenal can clean up. Maybe should have gone himself, Morata. Arsenal break in their turn, Wellbeck also guilty of being too unselfish as he tries to play it off rather than driving for the box. That move also snuffed out.

40 mins

Oh Arsenal! So close. Ramsey on a run, he gets the break of the ball and somehow manages to bundle through, he stabs a shot.... it hits the post and the rebound comes back to Lacazette. Who slaps it miles over! Ooooh, chance.

36 mines

34 mins

Moses spins away from his man on the edge of the Chelsea box and bombs forward. I really like him and Willian in the same side, shuttlers par excellence, so hard to play against. They can turn D into A at any second. once you add Hazard back into this, my goodness. Only possible question mark is over the forward Morata at the tip of the spear. Not saying that he has not made a good start to his Stamford Bridge career, just that it is early days.

30 mins

29 mins

Fabregas has a freekick down the left. Plays short, one two. Slings it into big Luiz. Good defending by Arsenal. Actually, looking at it again: Xhaka has got David L in a bearhug there. Risky move away from home at a big club.

25 mins

23 mins

Classic Arsenal, that, I guess. Starting to look really useful going forward, and then a schoolboy bit of defending. Look at how those two Chelsea men have been allowed to run through there. Is the back three trying to play some sort of offside trap? I like Wenger, but how can you not call these sort of incidents terrible failures of coaching?

13 mins

10 mins

Willian, though, finds Alonso. This is a more dangerous move. Cross in! Morata goes close with the header but was offside. Azpilicueta, who delivered the ball, is forming a nice understanding with the forward.

Chelsea, to be quite frank, look a much, much better side than Arsenal in almost every department.

9 mins

Moses came off worse, bit of a delay while he gets treatment. Game needs a couple of minutes to re-gather itself, and there's a nondescript period while Luiz et all try some long balls that amount to little.

2 mins

1 mins

It's the Blues who kick off. Jeremy Wilson has news on Ozil:

Mesut Ozil will miss Arsenal’s London derby at Chelsea today after suffering a knee injury following the win against Bournemouth.

Ozil had also been rested from the Europa League victory against Cologne in an attempt to get himself ready for the match but he will be replaced by Alex Iwobi, with Arsene Wenger also deciding that Alexis Sanchez does not have the match fitness to start.

Ozil’s injury has been described as “minor” and he is expected to return next week.

It leaves a front three of Alexandre Lacazette, Iwobi and Danny Welbeck. Arsenal are otherwise unchanged from the team that beat Bournemouth, with only Iwobi, Hector Bellerin and Nacho Monreal starting today against Chelsea and also beginning the match on Thursday with Cologne.

Conte

Wenger

"Sanchez is very close now (to his best). Every game is an opportunity to change a negative history (i.e. Liverpool result). I would like to remind you we have only played four games, and we have had players coming back."

Thierry says that Arsenal get into trouble

When Ramsey comes too far forward, ahead of Lacazette even, and then they lose the ball... meaning that opponents can stream through their unoccupied midfield. And having their wingbacks out wide means that they are even thinner.

Credit:
Sky

Carragher asks him whether Wenger will tell Ramsey this, and Henry says "no". He thinks that Wenger will leave it up to the player himself to "have the discipline" or else it is up to one of the centre halves to say "oi where are you going".

Afternoon!

Our preview

A juicy London derby between two genuine title contenders - Chelsea vs Arsenal at Stamford Bridge.

When is it?

It's today, so Sunday, September 17.

What time is kick-off?

It's the early game and starts at 1.30pm.

What TV channel is it on?

Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League from 12.30pm. Or you can wait to watch highlights on Match of the Day 2 on BBC 1 at 10.30pm. Or you could follow all the live action with us when this page turns into our live blog.

What does the PL table look like?

What is the team news?

Chelsea

Midfielder Danny Drinkwater is expected to be out until the October international break and will miss Sunday's clash with Arsenal.

Drinkwater was an unused substitute against his former club Leicester last Saturday and missed the midweek Champions League win over Qarabag with a calf problem which means he could be out for four weeks.

Chelsea are likely to rotate their options after making changes for the Qarabag contest, with playmaker Eden Hazard in contention to start for the Blues for the first time this season.

The Gunners are likely to recall a host of first-team regulars. Manager Arsene Wenger made nine alterations for the Europa League win over Cologne but the likes of Petr Cech, Laurent Koscielny and Alexandre Lacazette will all return to the squad at Stamford Bridge.

Alexis Sanchez will feature after playing the whole game on Thursday night, where Theo Walcott (calf) hobbled off. Francis Coquelin (hamstring) and Santi Cazorla (ankle) are definitely out.

"It is good to face Arsenal now. Everybody is healthy and things are going well. We won at Leicester, won comfortably (on Tuesday night) and will go into the Arsenal game with a good feeling.

"We are doing well. After the bad first half against Burnley, I think all our performances have been good. We have shown good spirit, good football and good wins most importantly of all.

"Do we feel like we are in a good place? Yes. Sometimes it is good to face a big team early. Last year it didn't work out against Liverpool and Arsenal, but this season we have already won at Tottenham.

"Arsenal had a few bad matches, but won comfortably (against Bournemouth) last weekend.

"For us and for them it's a big game because we are third in the table. Obviously we want to close the gap (to Manchester United and Manchester City) and take points off Arsenal as well."

Arsenal got back to winning ways against Bournemouth - but Sunday brings a new test of their ability to compete away to the Premier League's leading sides.

Arsene Wenger takes his team to champions Chelsea, where they have not won since 2011 - part of a dismal recent away record against all the clubs who finished last season in the top six.

The Gunners have won only two such games out of 21 since the start of the 2013-14 season, with their last victory coming at Manchester City in January 2015 - since when their record shows five draws and eight defeats, including their current five-game losing run.